Mr Mubarak, who was ousted in a citizen revolt in February, has refused to eat
any solid food for the past five days, leaving him "extremely weak",
according to independent doctors at the hospital where he has been detained
since April.
But many of those involved in the protests that led to his overthrow suspect
Mr Mubarak of a ruse and believe that the military leadership managing Egypt's
transition to civilian rule is complicit in it.
The former president, who ruled Egypt for 30 years, is meant to stand trial on
August 3rd. He faces the death penalty if he is convicted on charges of
ordering the killing of protesters, 800 of whom died during the uprising,
and of corruption.
A number of trials involving senior figures in Mr Mubarak's regime have
already been postponed and few expect the former president to appear in the
dock next week.
Mr Mubarak's medical team has already tried to claim he is medically unfit to
stand trial, saying he has failed to recover from a heart attack he suffered
in April, that he has had a recurrence of stomach cancer and that he slips
in and out of a coma.
Rumours of ill health abounded while Mr Mubarak was in power, although the
state went to great lengths to suppress them. But now his critics claim the
former president is trying to exaggerate his ailments, accusing him of
indulging in "theatrics".
Yet even independent doctors admit that Mr Mubarak, who is 83, is declining
rapidly as a result of his hunger strike.
"He is completely refusing to eat food but consumes some liquids and
juice only," Mohammed Fathallah, head of the hospital where Mr Mubarak
is being treated, told the Egypt's state news agency. "He has lost a
lot of weight and suffers weakness and severe infirmity."
Egypt's ruling generals are widely believed to want to avoid a trial, fearful
of what may emerge of their own role in Mr Mubarak's regime.
They are also under pressure from regional powers like Saudi Arabia, which
wants to avoid the unedifying spectacle of a close ally in the dock and is
fearful that such a precedent would discourage other regional strongmen like
Libya's Muammar Gaddafi from standing down.
But any delay in the trial is likely to enrage Egypt's pro-democracy movement.
There have already been violently suppressed protests against the military
leadership over suspicions that the generals are trying to stymie a
transition to genuine democracy. If Mr Mubarak does not stand trial next
week, some observers warn that mounting frustration could give way to
all-out chaos.
